Facebook tricks, Windows trick, Google trick, Internet hacking, Ethical Hacking, gmail tricks, Technological news, Software Crack, Mobile Tricks, Blogging Trick, ebay Trick, Computer program, LAN hacking, WAN hacking, cookies stealing, Email Tracing
Creating and sticking to a budget can be tough for some people, but one great way to make sure you don't overspend or succumb to the siren song of impulse purchases is to create a category in your household budget specifically for those types of purchases. Better yet, open an account specifically for it and keep that account's card or cash in your wallet for those times when you just want to treat yourself.
The goal of creating a budget is to make sure you know where your money is going at all times, and the beauty of having a splurge budget is that you have a way to bolster your discipline as you learn to scale back those impulse buys and manage your money a bit better. Every good budget should have a section for entertainment and fun purchases (or else, what are you earning all of that money for?) but building a little splurge fund that rolls over from month to month gives you a way to treat yourself occasionally without wrecking the rest of your financial health.
The folks at Wise Bread have a number of other techniques to help you avoid overspending on impulse buys, but this one was particularly interesting, especially since many people too often believe building a budget means you can't have fun with your money. Do you have a splurge fund in your budget? How do you make sure your budget is sound without making your life miserable? Share your money-saving tips in the comments.
It may seem like common sense at this point that you should thoroughly review your bills every month before paying them, but in an age of automatic bill payment where our expenses are paid without us ever seeing the statements, the blog Five Cent Nickel explains why we should look at our statements, even if they're automatically paid: most companies consider it the customer's responsibility, and aren't afraid to say so.
The post was inspired by the author's upgrade to a new iPhone 4S back in January, at which time an AT&T rep must have signed him up for everything from roadside assistance to lost phone insurance. Unfortunately, because he hadn't been reviewing his bill every month and the full amount due is automatically deducted from his checking account, it wasn't until his March bill that he caught the new charges. He managed to get out of the plans and get the back fees refunded, but not without a snide comment from the customer service rep reminding him that AT&T considers it the customer's responsibility to review their statements and notify the company if there are any inaccuracies.
It may sound unreasonable, but most companies operate this way, and aren't afraid to tell you so in their documentation, when you call them for help, or on your bills and on their web site. The moral of the story is that even if you have your bills automatically paid, it's worth sitting down for a few minutes every month and reviewing your paid statements, just to make sure you didn't pay a fee or new charge you weren't anticipating—if you catch something, call the company right away.
Do you review your bills every month before you pay them? Do you use automatic bill payments and never see the statements? Share your money management tips in the comments.
Spring cleaning usually entails clearing out old closets, cleaning up the junk drawer, and giving the house a good scrub down. In an interview with NPR, author Gail Blanke suggests you add your finances to your spring cleaning routine as well.
She suggests you start with something small and don't make a big deal of it. Just like your house, your finances get clogged up and need to get cleaned out once a year. She suggests:
I would say, ask yourself the question, what are the two or three things that I could do or start to do that reduce my financial stress? You know, maybe you make a plan to pay down your credit card debt. That'd be good. Maybe - and this is a really good one. Maybe you draw up a budget that realistically reflects your current financial situation.
If spring cleaning is all about getting rid of the clutter in your life then it makes sense to work your financial situation into your routine. Do you take a look at your finances during spring cleaning?
If someone were to say to you they'd match—dollar for dollar, no strings attached—every dollar you put into your savings account (effectively doubling your money for free), you'd jump at the chance, wouldn't you? Yet nearly 40% of us aren't using our employer 401(k) matching benefits. Let's talk about that for a bit.
Making the most of your employer's 401(k) match is one of the most important financial strategies you can make. If you think about it, there's no other investment with a return this good, and guaranteed. Your employer is basically giving you free money towards your retirement.
Not all companies offer 401(k) plans—some offer different types of retirement plans that also offer matching (I'm using 401(k) here as the example), some don't offer any retirement plans at all. Either way, if your company offers a retirement plan with matching definitely look into it. The program will differ depending on your company's policy, but here are a couple of common policies:
A common matching scheme is a 50% match of your contribution up to 6% of your gross salary. So for every dollar you put in, the company will put in 50 cents. The max a company will put in for a person with a $50,000 salary, in this 6% cap scenario, per year, is $1,500. Calcxml 401 match calculator can run those figures for you, including if your company offers a secondary matching schedule (e.g., after the first match, if your company offers a 50% match on the next 3% you contribute).
Another, even better example matching scheme is 100% match on contributions up to 5% of salary. So for every dollar, up to 5% of your salary, you'd get a matching dollar in your retirement fund. If you save $1000 yourself in your 401(k), for example, you'd see $2,000 at the end of the year (not including investment gains and losses) thanks to the employer match. That's an extra $1,000 you would not otherwise see! Update: As a few readers have pointed out, the Federal government employees match isn't a straight 100% match on up to 5% of salary. The government contributes automatically 1% of your salary, whether you contribute to your retirement or not if you're a government employee; then they match 100% of the next 3% of your salary you contribute; then they'll match 50% for up to the next 2% of your salary you contribute.
We talk about the employer match as being "free money," but that might not actually be really so generous. A study by the Urban Institute recently pointed out that some employers actually lower their employees' salaries by the amount of the potential 401(k) contribution. As Bargaineering summarizes:
if your employer said they'd match your contributions up to 3%, they were probably offering you a salary that was 3% lower than what they would be offering if there were no 401(k) available to you.
Passing up on your employer match is like taking a voluntary salary reduction, which no one really would do.
Often people don't contribute to their retirement plan because of two reasons: They find it too confusing to get started investing or they have trouble making ends meet and don't think they can afford to invest. For the first case, you can invest in a target date fund or lifecycle fund, which is a mutual fund that automatically rebalances for you as you get closer to your target retirement date. Once you get your feet wet, you can start learning retirement planning basics and using tools to plan your retirement.
For the later problem of not thinking you can afford to invest, try to find more room in your budget to at least make the match (or as most of it as possible). Time is your biggest asset when it comes to investing, so getting started as early as you can, even with a little, will pay off. Since most retirement plans also take contributions from your paycheck before taxes are taken out, you'll also be saving a lot more than you think!
Got any thoughts or tips on employer matching or retirement planning? Let's talk in the comments.
Money. You need it to live, but whether you're a spendthrift or a miser, money can make you do foolish things. You'll waste it trying too hard to save, spend it on things you don't need, and simply overpay on regular expenses every month. Here's how to avoid being stupid with your hard-earned cash.
Frugality has its downfalls. When you try too hard to save, sometimes you end up wasting your money in the process. This may seem almost impossible, but it happens when you try so hard to cut costs that you stop paying for things you actually need. Doing this leads to more problems down the road—problems that are far more costly.
For example, skipping regular checkups at the doctor and the dentist can save you a few hundred dollars each year, but there will come a day when your lack of preventative care—which is very important—will earn you a much higher bill.
Doing your own taxes with inexpensive software may also seem like a good idea, but if the software makes any mistakes you could end up paying for them later. If you're going to do your own taxes, make sure you have the time and resources necessary or you could run into problems.
Buying cheaply made products is another way to throw away your money. It may save you cash in the short term, but you're bound to find yourself replacing it far sooner than a well-made product. If you've ever purchased a cheap inkjet printer, you know this works. It'll print well for about six months to a year before you start to run into clogged ink heads and other issues. While the printer may be under warranty, manufacturers will often just replace them because it's less expensive than the cost of repair. This is not only bad for the environment, but it can be bad for your wallet if you end up paying any of the costs yourself. It's always better to look for a good deal on a well-made product than sacrifice quality manufacturing for the sake of a discount that will possibly cost you more in the long run.
Buying in bulk can also cost you more in the long run if you don't use everything you buy. Bulk food can be great for multi-person households—especially those with children—but buying in bulk isn't necessarily ideal for just one or sometimes even two people. Before you make your way to CostCo or Sam's Club, ensure that you're going to actually use everything you buy and that you're actually getting a good deal—because sometimes you're not.
Overall, if you think your purchasing decisions through before you make them you shouldn't have too hard of a time realizing when your efforts to cut costs will actually hurt you in the long run. A little thought is enough to solve the problem.
When you aren't bringing in as much as you'd like with each paycheck, it's hard to reduce that amount by cutting out a chunk that's just going to sit in a bank account and earn minimal interest. In some cases, you may think you can't even afford to save. Neither option looks particularly attractive, but there are numerous benefits to saving even a small portion of your paycheck that you may not realize—benefits that save you even more money in the long run.
While this probably goes without saying, saving money means you have a reserve of cash at your disposal. It's worth mentioning nonetheless because you may not realize that you can end up spending more money in the long run when you don't save at all. This not happens because you can quickly rack up credit card debt by buying things you can't afford, but because using your savings to purchase an item means you have the freedom to spend at the most optimal time—such as when a good deal comes along. If you don't have the necessary savings when that deal arises, you'll have to put it on a credit card that you can't pay off immediately and the interest will quickly negate those savings. If you have cash at the ready, you won't face this dilemma.
You can save money even if you don't have a lot of cash reserves—just start small. If it hurts to take a chunk out of your paycheck each month, consider saving a dollar or two every day. Because you likely spend at least that much cash on a daily basis, funneling it into a jar won't seem quite as difficult as watching about $30-60 disappear each month from your paycheck. Contributing in small amounts will grow your savings slowly, but as you get in the habit you may feel more comfortable increasing the amount. If you're really having trouble finding the money to put in your savings account, consider where you can cut back and use the leftover cash to sock away each month. In the next section will discuss reducing your bills, which is an excellent way to find an explicit amount of extra cash each month, but you can also cut back in other ways if necessary. Cooking at home is one of the biggest savers. If you cut out prepared food and coffee runs on most days, you can save a lot. Buying generic—which sometimes gets you an identical product for less—is a great way to save money further. You can also save a lot by reducing your electricity usage, which can often be as simple as remembering to turn things off and using more efficient light bulbs. You'll also want to consider what you actually have to buy and what you can reuse. Razor blades, for example, can be used for a couple of years with a simple sharpening technique. Consider what can be kept before you toss it in the garbage.
Contributing to your 401k is another great way to save, but many people avoid this because 1) retirement seems a long way off and 2) they want to build an emergency fund beforehand so they're ready in case of a problem. There are two issues with avoiding a 401k. First, if your company matches any contribution you make you're basically throwing away money by not taking advantage of that benefit. Second, your 401k can also serve as an emergency fund. In many cases—such the an inability to pay rent or a medical emergency—you can withdraw money from your 401k early with either a reduced tax penalty or none at all. You will be subject to the income tax, but you'd have paid that if you put it in a savings account anyhow. Not every 401k allows for hardship withdrawals, so be sure to check with your plan (or any plan you're considering) beforehand. If you are covered, there's really no excuse to contribute to your 401k right now.
When you see a price tag on an item you want or receive a monthly bill in the mail, the general assumption is that this price is not negotiable—but that's where you'd be wrong. You can end up easily overpaying by quite a bit if you just accept the price you see. Often times there is a less-costly alternative.
When it comes to your bills, there are two things you can do to lower them. The first simply involves making a few phone calls each year to negotiate your rates. If you pay your bills on time and you've been loyal to the company for the last year or more, it's not hard to get some sort of discount. I do this twice a year with my cable bill and end up with a discount, a free upgrade, or both. In addition to your cable (or internet) bill, you can target cellphone carriers, credit cards, car insurance, and gym memberships. All you have to do is ask what they can do to help you get a lower price and be persistent.
In the event you can't get a cost reduction by simply asking, you can make some small sacrifices. In general, many monthly services include something you do not need and can easily live without. For example, text messaging plans can be replaced with Google Voice. Cable packages likely include a few premium channels you bought as a bundle but don't need anymore, and a super-thin HD antenna (like the Mohu Leaf) could replace your cable package altogether and even save you some space. Switching to a lesser bundle may not only be cheaper, but lock you into another discount for six to 12 months. You just have to look at what you're currently paying for and think about what you really need. Most often, you can live with less than you think because there are free alternatives available.
As for in-store prices, people tend to think they can't haggle when they often can. Big ticket items like furniture, appliances, and mattresses are rarely set in stone and you can make a deal if you try. This even works at big-ticket retailers like Best Buy. You can negotiate prices on televisions, for example, and often get a lower price and/or free accessories (like those overpriced cables). Cars and home prices are also commonly negotiable, and you can even reduce your medical bills with a simple question. Insurance companies are often ending up with lower rates, so if you're paying your doctor or dentist out of pocket you should see if they offer a cash discount. I get 10% off every dentist appointment for paying with a check. While you don't want to haggle for absolutely everything you buy, when the cost is higher than average it never hurts to ask. You may not get a discount, but if you do that quick negotiation will prove worthwhile.
We're lucky enough to live in a world with plenty of great products and so it's easy to turn to a credit card to buy them when you don't have the cash. Just because racking up unnecessary credit card debt is common these days doesn't make it a healthy practice. Carrying debt that you take time to pay off can amount in huge interest charges that don't take long to get into the range of thousands of dollars even if you always make your minimum payments. There's rarely a good excuse to carry debt on your cards, so if you do you it's time to put together a plan to stop right now.
If you really have a spending problem, you need to find ways to prevent yourself from using your credit cards. Enforcing a mandatory waiting period on your purchases or switching to a cash-only policy are two practical ways to start, but even ridiculous options like storing your credit cards in a jar of peanut butter or a block of ice can work because they make buying quite a bit more difficult. Simply taping over the magnetic strip and writing "DON'T USE ME" can work as well as a reminder is often enough. However you choose to go about it, take the necessary measures to ensure you don't actually use your cards.
To eliminate the debt, you need to make a plan. Figure out how much you can pay every month and how long paying that amount will take you to become debt free. ReadyForZero is a web app that can help you put that plan together. Once you have your plan, all you have to do is follow it. Debt can seem insurmountable at times because it can take years to pay off, but if you're patient and persistent it will be worth it in the end.
Checking your credit report is incredibly important and yet many people neglect to do it even though it's free. Not only is it important to know if there are any negative ratings on your account, but it can help you catch identity theft early on. The Consumerist posted about a man named Mike who found an anomaly in his credit report and it helped him that turned out to be fraud:
I check my free credit report every year. Well apparently last year I didn't check my Experian report, which was good news for me this year because I still have until May for my other two. Well, lo and behold, there's a default filing for $163. At first I was like, oh I forgot to pay something, what the hell cost me $163 that I missed?
The $163 was a fraudulent charge that Mike wouldn't have known about for a long time had he neglected to check his report every year. Ideally, you'd want to check quarterly to stay on top of any potential issues but you'd have to be willing to pay in that case. If you want a free report, we recommend using AnnualCreditReport. Not all free credit report services are actually free, but we know that one is. In addition to keeping an eye on fraud, you can use your report to improve your credit score. For the most part, paying your bills on time, avoiding collections, and only applying for new cards or loans a couple of times per year should keep your score on the rise. That said, you may find something on your credit report that shouldn't be there, so be sure to call the major three reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to have it removed if you do.
What stupid things have you done with your money and how did you fix them? If you've got advice to share, post it in the comments!
The catch to most personal and professional nameplate sites is that they offer you a single page that you can customize and tweak to describe yourself, and that's all you get. They may integrate with your social networks, but it's really for display purposes. Sidengo is a new service that's a little different. Instead of giving you one page, Sidengo allows you to create a nameplate site, complete with multiple pages for contact info, social networks, and more.
Much like some of our other favorite nameplate sites, Sidengo lets you sign up and build a landing page that visitors can visit and learn more about you. You get a number of templates to get you started, or the option to upload your own images to use with your site, and a WYSISYG editor that lets you customize and tweak the design in real time without working with the underpinnings of the site.
Where Sidengo departs from the traditional model though is in the number of modules and sub-sites that it offers. You can add a contact page with as much or as little information on it as you want, like a map, phone number, and email address, and requests for information through the page will be routed to you. You can integrate your social networks with the site, so visitors can click to see your recent tweets, Facebook posts, and if you have a Facebook page for your brand or business, you can integrate it with your landing page as well. You can even upload PDFs, custom forms for visitors to fill out, and other documents so visitors can grab a copy of your resume if you're looking for work, or your menu if you're a restaurant owner.
The service also supports Flickr galleries, YouTube video embeds, and sports mobile optimization out of the box, so as soon as you set up your page, it's ready for viewing on mobile devices. Sidengo is currently in beta, and while it's in beta the service is free. If you've tried other services and are looking for an alternative, Sidengo is worth a look.
